Abandoned Visions
by The Other Guy
Summary: Slash doesn't know who he is or where he came from, but his pokemon seem to recognize him. This story can be read first, but I suggest reading A New Trainer Meets and Old One and A New Beginning first (at least).
1. Prologue

Prologue

_Where am I? Who am I? What is going on?_

Slash drifted in an empty blackness, a void of unconscious inexistence. He floated ceaselessly, a lost soul, and invisible life force in a sea of dreamless sleep. He could not remember where he came from, where he was, what he was doing there, or even why he couldn't remember anything about himself. All he knew was that he was Slash, and he could not be destroyed…

He continued to float, lost in a strange matrix of shapeless blackness. He couldn't reminiscence, for he had nothing to remember. He couldn't ponder, because he had nothing to base his thought upon. All he could do was ask,

__

Where am I? Who am I? What's going on?

Slash was lost to his questions. There was no one to answer them. There was nothing else to think about. There was nothing else at all. As he stared on into the blackness, Slash wondered, _When will this end? What's going to happen?_

But there was no one to answer. Slash continued to drift, lost in the sea of nothingness…


	2. Chapter 1: The Final Challenge

Chapter 1 

"I challenge you to a pokémon match!" Ash yelled to the Viridian Gym leader, Giovanni, "This time I will beat **you** instead of your weak little cronies!" 

"Don't be so sure," Giovanni smirked, "3 on 3! Send out your first pokémon." 

"I choose Bulbasaur! Go!" Ash threw down his red and white pokéball, which let out a red beam that formed Bulbasaur. 

"Well, then," Giovanni replied, "I'll choose… Gyrados!" 

"Gyrados?" Ash said to himself, "Water types are weak against grass types. Oh, well. Bulbasaur! Use Vine Whip!" 

"Gyrados! Use Water Gun!" Bulbasaur's twin vines shot out at Gyrados, slapping Gyrados' side. Water Gun shot out of Gyrados' mouth and soaked Bulbasaur, knocking him back and tangling him in his vines. 

"Good, Bulbasaur! Now use Razor Leaf!" 

"Gyrados! Use Flamethrower!" Leaves shot out of Bulbasaur's bulb, only to be scorched, along with the rest of him, by burning flames that emitted from Gyrados' mouth. 

"I still don't understand why Gyrados can use Flamethrower," Ash muttered to himself. "Hand in there, Bulbasaur! Get him with another Razor Leaf!" 

"Gyrados! Fire Blast!" Giovanni shouted. The two Pokémon braced for the attacks, and razor sharp leaves shout out of Bulbasaur's bulb again, slicing the Gyrados up badly. Gyrados, still charging up his Fire Blast, let it all out with a roar as his energy became exhausted. The blast knocked back Bulbasaur, who rolled a few times before fainting. 

"Good job, Bulbasaur! Return!" Ash held out the Pokéball, which recalled Bulbasaur, and then brought out another, "Now it's time to try out one of my newest Pokémon!" he called, "Kirlia, go!" Ash tossed a great ball, which released the girl-like psychic pokémon. 

[Kirlia: A psychic pokémon. The evolved form of Ralts. Evolves into Gardevoir at level 30. Its special abilities are either synchronize or trace.] 

"A psychic type, eh?" Giovanni silently commended Ash for finally getting a head, "Then I'll use my new pokémon! Poochyena, go!" 

[Poochyena: A dark pokémon. Its ability is run away, which allows it to escape from wild pokémon. Evolves into Mightyena at level 18.] 

"Kirlia, use Psychic!" Ash called. 

"Poochyena, use sand-attack!" Poochyena got ready to blind Kirlia with a sand-attack, only to be caught by a psionic force. It was then thrown up into the air, and then slammed back down, cracking the floor and sending dust flying. 

"Great work, Kirlia! Now use Confusion!" Ash called. 

"Poochyena! Use bite!" Giovanni replied. Kirlia shot out waves of confusion, sending Poochyena stumbling in random directions. Recovering itself, it jumped back and bit Kirlia, inflicting dark damage. 

"Now, Poochyena! Use Thief!" 

"Kirlia! Don't let him get you! Use Psychic!" Kirlia nodded, catching the disappearing Poochyena in her psychic wavelengths. Sending him smashing into the wall, Kirlia knocked Poochyena out, ending the second round of the match. 

"Poochyena! Return!" Giovanni called the pokémon back into his ball. "I went easy on you that time, kid, but this one's gonna be harder! Go, Nidorant!" 

"Nidorant?" Ash questioned, watching with peaked interest as the pokémon emerged. 


	3. Chapter 2: The Last Round

Chapter 2: The Final Round 

Standing over eight feet tall, with hard, shiny, plated hide, Nidorant roared as he flexed his rock-hard muscles and stretched his long, pointed spikes. The pokémon, truly terrible in feature, glared indifferently at the opposing pokémon. 

[Nidorant: The final evolution of Nidoking. Named for its tyrannical features, Nidorant is one of the largest pokémon in the world. Even legendary pokémon may be overcome by its intimidating stature and unimpressed posture. Very few trainers have been able to obtain and control Nidorant in the past. The first trainer recorded to have done so is Giovanni, the Viridian City Gym leader.] 

Somehow, Ash had a feeling that Giovanni was not the first, but he shook of the feeling for jealousy. Kirlia, overcome by intimidation, ran back and begged to be returned. _There's only one pokémon in my team that could stand up to this guy. I hope I make the right choice…_

"Kirlia! Return!" Kirlia jumped and seemed relieved to be back in her pokéball. Nidorant yawned. "Charizard! I choose you!" Ash chucked a large pokéball onto the field, sending out the dragon-like fire pokémon. At 6' 9", even Charizard seemed a runt compared to Nidorant. Despite its size, Charizard's eyes flared at his opponent, intent on defeating this ultimate challenge. 

"Charizard! Use Fire Blast!" 

"Nidorant! Use Iron Tail!" The two pokémon got ready to attack. Lifting his colossal tail, Nidorant prepared to sweep Charizard off his feet. However, Charizard was already in the air, charging up a powerful blast of flames that seared into Nidorant's metallic hide, dealing great damage. Nidorant, however, seemed unperturbed. Charizard raged and sent an unexpected Fire Spin attack at Nidorant, which engulfed the giant pokémon in an inferno of skin-sizzling fire. Snorting loudly, Nidorant swiped away most of the flames with his tail. 

"Good job, Charizard! Now, give him another Fire Blast, right in the face!" 

"Nidorant! Give him a supercharged Zap Cannon!" Nidorant charged up, electricity coursing through his body. Charizard took advantage of his opportunity and fired off a Fire Blast right into the tyrant Pokémon's face, dispelling the built up energy back into the opponent's body. 

"You have chosen well, boy." Giovanni nodded, "But now it is over! Nidorant! Use Armageddon!" 

"Armageddon!? That can't be good!" Ash looked up, a fire in his eyes that only one truly destined to be a master could possess, "Charizard! Fly up high to avoid the attack! Then let loose whatever you've got!" Charizard nodded, and shot up toward the sky. Nidorant began glowing red and becoming extremely hot. Charizard continued to fly higher as sparks began to shoot out of Nidorant. Turning around, Charizard paused for a second, seemingly deciding what to do. Suddenly, he roared loudly, shaking the arena and forcing Ash to cover his ears. Then, he began to glow, brighter and redder than Nidorant was. Flames shout out of his mouth and burned brightly from his tail. Holding up his claws, Charizard began to gather energy and flames high above his head, ignoring the scattered blasts now speeding in every direction. Shaking off the few that hit him, Charizard now closed his mouth, but continued to gather energy above him. Nidorant then seemed to explode, sending millions of fragmented rocks and blasts of energy up at Charizard. Being so high up saved the dragon-like pokémon from the explosion, but many rocks cut his tough hide, and tore through his wings. Slowly losing altitude, Charizard waited. Soon, the explosion cleared, and rocks and dust began to shower down upon him. Slowly touching down onto the ground, Charizard rested his wings, still holding a huge ball of energy above him. Sighting his target, Charizard let loose the blast with all of his remaining energy, completely covering the tyrant pokémon. The blast was so bright that everything went white. When the light finally faded and the smoke cleared, Charizard was kneeling, shaking and sweating profusely. Nidorant lay, completely unconscious, on the ground; his armor-like hide was blackened and ashen from the flames and energy that hit him. Slowly, Charizard stood up. Reaching his full height, he spread out his wings, becoming as large as he could appear. Letting out a might roar, Charizard proclaimed his victory, and then completely blacked out. 

"Well, kid," Giovanni climbed down the stairs as the platforms they stood on lowered, "I've got to hand it to you. You're the… first to ever defeat Nidorant. And, I think you deserve this." Giovanni walked up to Ash, handing him his own Feather Badge, which was larger and more delicately carved than the ones he handed out to most trainers who defeated his Gym. Turning to Nidorant, Giovanni held out his pokéball, "You fought hard. Return, Nidorant." 

Meanwhile, Ash ran over to Charizard, "I knew I could trust you. I'll never forget how I first found you on a rock, stubbornly but loyally waiting for your trainer. Return, Charizard. It's time for you to rest." Ash held out Charizard's old pokéball, and watched as Charizard became a white form, then molded into the pokéball. Standing up, he turned to Giovanni. _If only Brock, Misty, Tracy, and all of them could see this. And Gary. Especially Gary…_

"Well, boy. I guess you'll be on to the Hoenn area now, am I correct?" 

"Yeah. I guess. There's not much left for me here…" 

"Then take this. You'll need it if you want to do well there," Giovanni handed Ash a mysterious stone. It was perfectly smooth, but sharp and rough at the same time. It seemed clack, white, gray, every color and no color, all at once. The only distinguished mark was a small, green four-leafed clover, which Ash was sure he had seen before… 

"You know," Giovanni brought Ash out of his thoughts, "You could have made an excellent Member of Team Rocket. But that is not your path. I suggest you go and rest your pokémon now. It has been an exacting fight, for both of us." 

Ash nodded and, turning, walked out of the arena, through the main corridor, and headed to the door. Taking one last glance at the gym, tears came to Ash's eyes. _Well, I guess this is it. I won't be seeing Brock, Tracy, Gary, Mom, Prof. Oak, Misty, any of them, again…_

Turning the knob, Ash walked out of the gym, heading to the Pokémon center. 


	4. Chapter 3: Off to a New World

Chapter 3: Off to a New World!

Ash thought about all of the times he had spent with his friends as he sat on Pigeot, who had finally rejoined his team. The soft beating of the bird Pokémon's wings lulled Ash as he watched Kanto fade into the distance. He was off to Hoenn, which was only accessible by flight, as it was surrounded by sharp rocks and steep cliffs. He wondered what had happened to break his little group up. It seemed to just happen all of a sudden. First Gary began spreading rumors, then his friends got confused, and soon all three were lost in madness started from simple false rumors. Now Brock and Misty were gone, and they weren't coming back- at least not anytime soon.

Pigeot squawked as he softly landed in one of the small towns of Hoenn, and Ash jumped off.

"Thanks, pal," he patted Pigeot on the neck, who cooed in return, "I'll whistle if I need your help again, okay?" Pigeot squawked and took off into the blue sky.

Suddenly, a girl about Ash's age ran out of a nearby building.

"Bye, Daddy!" she called into the structure, "I'm going to make sure Slash knows what he's doing!" She ran past Ash, pulling out a pokéball from her belt, "Altaria, go!" She tossed the ball into the air, which sent out a light that soon became the cloudy bird pokémon. The girl jumped on and flew away. Ash's memory sparked at the mention of the name Slash, but he couldn't figure out why the name rung a bell; he had never met anyone named Slash in his life!

"Good-bye, honey!" a man called out of the door, watching his daughter soar over the trees. Looking down, he noticed Ash, "Oh, you must be Ash! I've heard a lot about you from Prof. Oak! Come in the lab, I've got something for you!"

"Prof. Birch?" Ash replied, "Looks like I came just in time!" The two walked into the lab, where Ash observed the high-tech equipment like he had seen in Prof. Oak's lab.

"So, you actually beat Giovanni?" Birch flipped through some papers, taking some out, and putting others away in various compartments in his desk, "Congratulations! You'll have no problem getting around Hoenn!"

"Yeah," Ash responded, glancing over the many new species of Pokémon he saw on posters and computer screens, "I was hoping you could enlighten me on some of the new Pokémon I'll be finding around here."

"Sure," Prof. Birch beamed, "In fact, I have something to give you. First of all, I'll upgrade your pokedex," Prof. Birch took the computerized index of the creatures and plugged it into one of his computers, "Second, come with me," he motioned for Ash to follow, and headed toward the back of the lab, "So, how old are you now, Ash? Fifteen? Sixteen?"

"Fifteen last month," Ash replied, looking around at the shelves of pokéballs containing various pokémon.

"Here's what I wanted to give you," Prof. Birch handed Ash a pokéball, "This is Torchic, a fire pokémon. I was going to let you choose between her, Mudkip, and Treecko, but I let Slash take Mudkip, and Amy wanted Treecko to battle him with." Again, the name Slash made Ash think. Did he know this guy? Ash didn't think so.

"That's fine, Prof. Birch," Ash replied, "That just means I'll be able to start over in Hoenn, and catch more new pokémon!" Taking the pokéball, Ash sent out Torchic, who immediately snuggled up next to him. Memories flashed through his head. _I got Pikachu because he was all that was left too… I hope the doctors back in Viridian can save him…_

"She seems to like you," the professor smiled. _Hopefully not like Bayleef,_ Ash thought with a grin.

"Well, thanks, Professor Birch!" Ash returned Torchic and began to leave, "You've been a great help. I'll see you around."

"Oh, and Ash?" Prof. Birch followed him out, "If you see Amy or May, my daughters, tell them I said to keep out of trouble, okay?" Ash nodded, then walked out the door into the daylight, covering his eyes from the sudden brightness. Heading out, Ash followed the road to the nearest town.

_So begins a new adventure_, Ash thought to himself, _It's like I'm ten years old, all over again._ The thought made him smile.


	5. Chapter 4: Out of Nowhere

Chapter 4: Out of Nowhere

"Slash! I found you!"

Slash turned to see Amy running down the road towards him. Picking up Mudkip, who licked his face and beamed, Slash turned and smiled, "Hi, Amy. So what's up?"

"Just wanted to make sure you weren't losing too badly," Amy smiled and walked up next to Slash.

"Actually, Amph and I have been getting along perfectly," Slash responded as Mudkip looked up at him, "It's almost like he knows me already." Mudkip nodded then cooed, pointing to the ground. Slash set him down and turned to Amy, keeping his Mudkip in his sight.

"Maybe he does," Amy replied, "You know, like from another world."

"Another world?" Slash made a face, "I don't think Amph knows me from another world."

"Well, you never know," Amy shrugged, "but he does seem like he's been your friend, like, forever."

"Maybe I knew you from another world," Slash smiled and looked back at Amy.

"Maybe," Amy smiled back, her bright blue eyes sparkling. They stared into each other's eyes, then turned away, suddenly.

"Anyways," Slash picked up a pokéball and rolled it around in his hand.

"Um…" Amy blushed and looked at Amph, who was sniffing a Magikarp that had escaped onto the land and was flopping around, "So, Slash, have you caught any more pokémon?"

"I have, in fact," Slash responded, putting away his pokéball, "I caught a Zigzagoon." Taking out another pokéball, he released a little Zigzagoon, which held a potion in its mouth. "Thanks, Ziggi," Slash replied, taking the offered item.

"She's cute," Amy replied, smiling as Ziggi sniffed at her legs, "So, Slash! Have you figured out anything about where you came from? Who you are?"

"Nope," Slash replied sadly, "Still clueless as to who I am. But at least I have a friend to help me find out." Amy smiled, and sat down on a nearby log. Slash sat down and Amph hopped onto his lap, having knocked the Magikarp back into the water. The two trainers sat in silence, watching the pond in front of them, a world in itself of water-dwelling pokémon and plants. Behind them, the woods were alive with serene life, and the nearby road was empty for miles.

"You know," Amy petted Amph absently, "I wonder why you can't remember anything except your name, even a week after I found you wandering through the trees."

"I want to know why no one recognized me," Slash replied, patting Amph's head, "I mean, I can't be that far from home, can I?" Feeling a soft, slender hand under his, Slash let it rest, looking at Amy, "Can I?"

"Well," Amy replied, "You could have been traveling, and from a different city…"

"But then wouldn't someone have recognized me nearby?" Slash replied, "And, besides, why would I be traveling without any pokémon or even provisions?" Slash let his hand fall back to rest on the log. Amy rested her hands in her lap. Suddenly, Slash got up, making Amph jump onto Amy's lap to avoid being tossed onto the ground.

"Well, we still have a few hours in the day left!" Slash returned Ziggi and Amph to their pokeballs, "Why don't we go find some more pokémon?"

"Sure!" Amy replied, happy to have something to do, "Let's head to Rustboro, through the Petalburg Woods!" Slash nodded, and they headed toward the nearby woods to catch some more pokémon.


End file.
